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King City by Brandon Graham

The main character is Joe, a cat master. He has a cat named Earthling who he injects with different things to give it super powers to do basically anything. Then there’s Joe’s best buddy, Pete; his ex-girlfriend Anna; her new boyfriend, zombie war veteran Max; and the mysterious but sexy Beebay. There is also a giant demon monster that had been split into three parts, and is now working to unify itself, but that doesn’t matter as much.

The important thing is the people, Joe and all his friends. They’re cool people to hang out with for a while. They have a good sense of humor. They understand that sandwiches are really important. By the time you’re done with the book you really care about them, and that’s impressive.

For as much as it’s a fun book that made me giggle a lot it also made me care about the characters. Their interiors were well drawn, and succeeded in drawing me in.

The actual drawing is delightful. There’s so much to look at it, you don’t know where on the page to look. It’s cluttered, but in a good way. I’m sure I could read it again and catch things I missed. There were lots of puns, and cool visual jokes that are hard to explain.

The artwork and the story create a vibrant breathing city. This kind of sci-fi city is one of my favorite places to think about. The city itself is a character, full of characters, full of mysteries. It isn’t a heavy social critique of anything, but it asks questions. You could think about this for a long time if you wanted to.

Or you could just read it because it’s a crazy fun book about a guy and his magic cat.